Elemental
by musingwoman
Summary: Someone is setting fires accross Cardiff with devastating results. Can the team find the perpertrator before more people are hurt? Mortal danger for several characters. Some fluff and fun too. Its my birthday - reviews make great birthday presents!
1. All Work and No Play

All Work and No Play

"Jack! Jack! Where are you? I need to speak to you straight away!"

Jack had heard the cog door and alarm, but had hoped for a few more minutes peace before he had to face the world again. He looked down at Ianto, still sleeping deeply in his arms. Another reason beside sleep he had been hoping for a little more time.

"Jack! it's important! Jack."

He picked up his comms unit and spoke to her over that, so that the noise wouldn't disturb Ianto. Let him rest a while longer.

"On my way" He contemplated not dressing and going out as he was, after all she had said it was urgent, but decided that might be a bit too harassing for Gwen at this time of the morning. He carefully withdrew his arm from under Ianto and stood up to dress. Ianto murmured in his sleep and rolled over into the warm hollow left by Jack.

Ianto breathed in Jack's smell. He had heard every word, but had hoped it was a dream and he and Jack would get to spend more than the two hours they had actually had for sleep since getting back from an overnight rift alarm. Jack leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You get some rest, I can get my own coffee" he whispered.

"Bugger," thought Ianto "now I have to get up." It had taken two weeks to get the coffee machine back in order last time Jack had attempted to use it. There was also the issue of timing. This was the first time Ianto had stayed in Jack's room at the Hub and although he knew Jack wouldn't worry about the others knowing, Ianto was not prepared for all the teasing and remarks he would get. Not on two hours sleep.

Jack emerged from his room under his office to find Gwen sitting in his chair. Buttoning up his blue shirt he grinned at her, "I like a woman who takes charge"

Gwen stood up. "I've been summonsed to attend an inquest Jack, the teacher who walked in front of the hybrid synergy weapon as it came through the rift and fired, I have been summonsed as witness"

"I thought Tosh took care of that?"

"She covered the evidence of the tech, but because the effects were like that of a gun shot, we let them take the body."

"So we get her to take care of the summons. No problem"

"No I want to go Jack."

"No way, too much exposure. Too much press and publicity. It would compromise security too much."

"Jack that family deserve to know what happened, well as much as we can let them know, "No"

"Jack I am going"

"Gwen, that is an order"

Ianto lay listening to the argument. At least while they were still in Jack's office he could relax.

It went quiet, he thought they had left and went to get up. His foot caught in the duvet and he fell to the floor.

"What was that noise Jack? It came from your room"

Ianto lay quietly on the floor, waiting for her to come and look down the hole, she would be able see the bed, but possibly not him. He suddenly got the giggles and had to stuff the duvet in his mouth to stop the sound escaping. He felt like a little kid in a game of hide and seek. Footsteps approached the round hole in the floor, Ianto held his breath. Jack bent down and looked through the opening. Ianto breathed out and Jack spotted him. His wickedest grin spread across his face as he took in the duvet stuffed in Ianto's mouth. He raised an eyebrow at him and stood up.

" A lamp fell off the table. I'd better go and sort it out, why don't you go and start coffee and we can talk some more."

Jack came down the ladder. Ianto pulled the duvet off himself and stood up, glaring at Jack who was standing there hands on hips grinning from ear to ear. Suddenly Ianto grinned back, then found he couldn't stop laughing.

As she walked away from the office Gwen thought she heard laughter and turned to look for Jack, but at that point the alarm sounded for the cog door and Owen walked through.

"Mornin', has Teaboy got the coffee on yet?"

"No, don't think he's in yet."

"Bit late for him – usually the first one here,"

"Jack looks tired – weren't they on rift duty last night? Oy Jack! Were you an Ianto on rift duty last night? Is that why Ianto's not here yet?" Shouted Gwen

Jack looked out of his office door, trying hard not to laugh. "Um yeah, had a midnight call out. Got back about 6. Strange goings on in Splott, a false alarm but we had trouble with the local fire and rescue people. Told Ianto to come in later"

Gwen went to put the coffee on. Strange, there were two dirty cups left over from the day before. That wasn't like Ianto, he was almost obsessionally tidy. And there was left over warm coffee.

Tosh and Gwen were leaning over the railings of the autopsy area whilst Owen gave them a lecture on the reproductive organs of a squid-like alien he had just dissected. Jack joined them.

"And if they do get a blue tentacle on your skin it is already too late and you need to come to me to remove the squidlets from your dermis, or skin to you lot."

"Nice" said Jack "I remember the outcast squid of Pentragorm 4, now it really knew how to make a guy happy, all those arms..."

"Too much information Jack!" said Tosh and Gwen together. Tosh heard footsteps and turned to watch Ianto walking towards them.

Tosh greeted him with a smile. She was sure he was wearing that shirt and tie yesterday.

"Oy teaboy, any chance of a decent cup of coffee?" Owen looked up at Ianto "Gwen did her best but it just isn't the same."

"If you promise to clean the blue squid juice off the floor I'll see what I can do."

Owen nodded.

"Right." Said Jack, "Can we crack on? Tosh I need that report on Rift activity for last week. Ianto coffee and archiving, Owen squid Juice and Gwen you and I need to talk."

" I am going to the inquest Jack"

"In that case we need to decide on what exactly you can and cannot say."

Ianto had known Jack would give in. Gwen was about to give him one of her stay in touch with your human caring side speeches, and Jack sometimes thought it was best to let her get on with whatever it was she wanted to do rather than have the guilt trip.

"Wonder what inquest that is?" said Tosh

"She got a summons this morning over the hybrid synergy death" said Ianto

"How do you know that?You only just got here" Said Owen, giving him one of his penetrating looks.

Ianto fought down the blush. "I was actually here a few minutes ago, spoke to Jack before he joined you"

"Okaaay" Owen exchanged a look with Tosh "if you say so"

Ianto escaped to the coffee area. Washing up he reflected back on that shared cup, leaning back against the counter whilst Jack sat on the stool. Both too tired to say or do anything, but it had been companionable if a little tense. Then Jack had suggested he slept over at the Hub and the coffee had been left as they walked hand in hand to Jacks room. Ianto had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. There was something about Jack that made him feel very taken care of and safe. When they were alone any way.

Tosh walked in and jolted him out of his reverie, he felt the blush start again.

"So hows the coffee coming?" She gave him her sweet glance, "I hear you and Jack were out late last night.......did he drop you home?"

"Yes, about six-ish."

"Oh I just thought you might have stayed here as it was so late – on the sofa"

Ianto became very busy with the coffee grinder.

When Ianto had got the coffee and taken himself off to the archive and Jack was safely in his office Owen called a meeting.

"So what's the evidence then girls? Did they go out on a call or did Ianto spend the night in Jack's room?"

"Jack was definitely hiding something when I was in his office. He used the comms to speak to me and when there was a thump from his room he wouldn't let me look. Then I heard laughter as I left his office." Said Gwen

"A clue!" said Owen

"I checked the call out log, and there was one at midnight." said Tosh

"There were two dirty cups and warm coffee in the coffee area" Gwen

"So they were up together early then" Owen

"And Ianto is wearing the same shirt and tie – that never happens" Tosh

"Hmm, well I reckon they went out on a call then had coffee and slept the last couple of hours in Jacks room" Thus Owen the Poirot of Torchwood  
"Does that count as staying overnight?"

"Not enough to win your bet Gwen, are you people going to get any work done today?"

Jack was leaning over the railings looking down at them.

They scooted back to their workstations "How does he do that" Gwen mouthed to Owen. Owen shrugged his shoulders and made a show of sorting out his papers.

Tosh was already monitoring her rift programme, "Guys we have activity – scanning now -it's similar to the spike Ianto and Jack went out to over in Splott. . Getting the address."

"OK, Owen, Gwen with me in the SUV, Tosh you take comms, Ianto you're on research – see if you can find out any more about unusual activity in that area. We need more information." Jack ordered


	2. Fire and Water

Fire and Water

The SUV skidded to a halt by a patch of waste ground. Fire and rescue were already in attendance pouring water onto a large bonfire. The fire was burning very hot,small flames that were demolishing the pile of Junk in seconds. Despite the speed of destruction the fire was not diminishing in any way. Some of the flames were seemingly burning the air itself, and the water from the hoses was turning to steam.

Jack ran up to the leading fireman – only to be pushed back by the heat. The firefighter waved him away and his team also backed away from the flames. The fire seemed to follow them, some of the flames reached the tip of a hose and the firefighter dropped it as he felt the heat even through his gloves.

"Turn off the water!"Jack yelled ,he gestured Gwen and Owen to the fire truck and they yelled at the men to turn off the water. The firefighters looked at them as if they were idiots and attempted to push Owen out of the way. Gwen found the valve and turned it, Owen got past the firefighter to help her. The pressure to one of the hoses dropped and with it the flames also burned themselves out. Realising but not understanding the firefighters on the other truck followed suit, and gradually the flames diminished with the water until there was just a small bonfire in the middle of the waste ground.

What the hell....."said the leading firefighter, who Jack realised was actually a woman

"Torchwood" he said "we'll take It from here."

"But that goes against all the rules of chemistry......"

"I said we will take it from here – Owen, Gwen get a fireproof containment box. Actually you can help – I don't want my people getting burnt. Go over to the fire and look for the most concentrated area, when they bring the containment box over, pick up the fire in your gloves and put it in the box"

"What?"

"Look, what we have here is an Elemental, when you put water on it, it felt under attack so fought back. Now it thinks it has won, and it is quiescent, it doesn't see you as a threat because you are made of all elements. It isn't sentient, so won't realise we are going to deprive it of the energy it needs in the box"

"Well that just made no sense at all"

"Oh will you please just do it or give me your gloves and I'll do it." Jack huffed.

The woman stalked over to the bonfire, bending down she could see a small ball of fire, shaped like a hedgehog but with blue flames instead of spikes. It did not look solid, yet it had defined boundaries, Owen came up next to her with a containment box, she picked up the fire in both hands, it was actually kind of cute. She stroked it with one finger and a small flame attached itself to her glove, she raised it in front of her face in wonder.

"Come on love, I don't have all day"

She started, and with both hands placed the Elemental carefully in the box.

"What will you do with it?"

"Use it to run my central heating? I dunno, I'm a doctor not a vet."

Owen went to join Gwen and Jack in the SUV. Jack was already talking to Tosh over the comms about the best way to cover up the story, and to retcon the leading fire woman.

They were half way back to the hub when Tosh called again. "Jack we have two more spikes, one back at splott and one near the docks. They are following the same pattern. The one at the docks is in a large warehouse and there may be people trapped."

"OK, We're near the turn off for the docks so we'll get down there, also we have more manpower for a large scene, you and Ianto will have to come out and deal with the Splott fire."

"Jack, that's not all, we now have reports of five more fires in and around Cardiff"

"Right, which is the largest?"

"The warehouse is the largest – six appliances in attendance"

"OK We'll go there, you and Ianto do the best you can with the other fires and we will join you soon as. In the mean time patch me through to the major incident centre, so that I can update them."

"Done Jack. Ianto and I are now leaving the Hub"

The SUV drove as close as it could to the warehouse fire. They were flagged down by the police cordoning the scene. They exited the SUV quickly, running forward,

"Torchwood!" yelled Jack "Where's the officer in charge?"

The policewoman pointed in the direction of a tall fire-fighter, busy directing where and how the hoses should be used. Jack noted 3 fire-fighters putting on breathing apparatus preparatory to entering the building.

Jack ran up to the man, "Torchwood, we're here to help get this sorted"

"You can help by leaving, this is too dangerous for non fire personnel"

Jack sighed, he was having deja vu. He recognised this guy from last night, he was the reason he and Ianto had not got to bed until six.

"OK, we had this conversation last night. You know who we are, you know that your policies allow for us to be at the scene of a fire and that you have to offer us assistance, not the other way round."

The man ignored him and walked off a few paces to speak to the group of firefighters putting on the breathing apparatus.

"Now I'm getting mad"

He walked over to the man, and pulled him around to face him. "We know how this fire started, we know how to stop it from feeding and growing bigger, now are you going to listen or do I have to get the major incident room on the phone?"

"let go of me or I will call the police over to have you removed!" With that the leading fireman gestured to a senior policeman to come over from a group at the perimeter.

The policeman arrived. He nodded curtly to Jack and the others "Harkness, what do you need this time?"

"I need you to tell this...man to cooperate with us if he wants to get the fire out this side of bonfire night!"

The policeman looked at the senior firefighter. "Torchwood hold jurisdiction here. You may not like it but that's how it is. Strangely it usually works out OK."

The firefighter looked angry, and was obviously fighting hard to come up with a good reply. He settled on "Right then, if that's how its got to be, what should we do?"

"First tell me where the seat of the fire is, then turn off your hoses to that area, they're making everything worse."

"But I have just sent three hoses in there, the men with the breathing apparatus, we need to get right to the base of the fire to put it out."

"You need to recall your men right now! If they put more water in there, there is a danger of backdraft!" Jack was using the only phrase he knew to try and get this man to do what he said.

"My God! Right," he started talking to the men over the radio. He became very still, "we have lost radio contact"

"Damn. OK I'm going in, get me some apparatus" said Jack

"I'll come too Jack" Said Owen

"Gwen you're on comms, catch up with Tosh and Ianto"

"But you can't – you've not had the right training – health and safety" spluttered the leading firefighter.

"Who said anything about your apparatus?"

Gwen and Owen were already running to the SUV, within a couple of minutes Owen returned with two pairs of matt gold and blue overalls and small air regenerator masks.


	3. IMU

IMU

Ianto and Tosh headed out to the first fire in Splott. It had been set in a small convenience store. Fortunately the leading firefighter had been at the previous fire and was cooperative.

They left her putting out the remaining fire which had reached the liquor area of the store. There were several small explosions as they left with the entity in a containment box.

Tosh updated the laptop and spoke to Gwen over the Comms as Ianto drove to the next fire at Clark's Pie factory.

"Jack and Owen are going in to find the seat of the fire, and to try and find three firefighters who may be stuck" Said Tosh, glancing at Ianto. The only sign he had heard was the whitening of his knuckles on the steering wheel and an uncharacteristic swerve as he accelerated past a dithering Honda.

Five minutes later they pulled onto a large industrial estate, racing round corners until they pulled up beside a fire appliance outside Clark's.

There was a smell of roasting meat, and although that wasn't unusual for the pie factory, this was coming from the back of a lorry. The doors were closed, but firefighters were cooling the outside of it with hoses, so presumably the fire was inside.

Ianto went up to the officer in charge.

"Torchwood, we're here to help."

The firefighter nodded. "I had a call from Janice Long at the convenience store. She explained that I should cooperate with you."

"I need to get inside the lorry, and when I do so you must make sure that no water gets inside"

The firefighter spoke to the people holding the hoses on the truck. They moved the hoses to the front cabin and then he took a crowbar to the lock on the doors at the back.

As the doors swung open the smell of roasted meat grew, and black smoke billowed out.

Ianto waited for it to clear, then took a scan of the interior. He located the Elemental to the back left corner. The firefighter lent him a spare uniform and he kitted up. As he approached the lorry the smell became overwhelmingly disgusting. Ianto began to see the advantages of vegetarianism.

He climbed into the lorry, grateful for the heatproof gloves. He had to push hanging sides of pork out of the way, fat had dripped onto the floor and he slipped, landing on his backside in a pool of pork dripping. He put his hand down to push himself up and slipped again. Finally he got his footing and carried on carefully towards the back corner. He could see blue flames running along the floor, going out and then lighting again. Suddenly a blast of water entered the lorry as one of the firefighters shifted position. Immediately the Elemental defended itself, sending out streamers of blue flame, igniting the pork fat on the floor. Ianto jumped up and pulled himself clear using the hanging rack.

"For Gods sake turn it off!" Tosh and Ianto yelled at the same time.

The water stopped and the Elemental withdrew its fire until it was just a ball in the corner of the lorry. Ianto picked it up in his gloved hands, and very carefully turned and made his way to the back of the lorry where Tosh waited with a containment box.

As Ianto climbed down from the lorry he looked up, over the heads of Tosh and the intrigued firefighter. He saw a man in a hoody standing outside the barrier to the factory grounds. He realised Ianto had spotted him and turned and walked quietly away.

Jack and Owen had entered the warehouse through one of its smaller doors. Inside all was pitch black, smoke roiling across the floor, illuminated here and there by the yellow flames of beams fallen from the floor above. They needed to find a metal staircase.. The Elemental was located underneath it. There were no signs of the firefighters.

Owen used his PDA and pointed Jack in the general direction the Elemental appeared to be. They walked forward slowly. The sound of the fire all round them, cracking and exploding wood, the roar of flames increasing and then diminishing. The heat was intense even through the fabric of their fire suits. The air regenerators were working well, the air even tasted a little sweet, like cherry blossom scent. They approached the point where the staircase should be. It became apparent why radio contact had been lost with the firefighters. Where the staircase had been was a pile of twisted metal. Underneath it one of the firefighters lay as though pole-axed. No external injury but his breathing apparatus was out of his mouth and he was gasping. A second firefighter lay unconscious pinned beneath a section of stairs.

The third was continuing to pour water onto the flames where the bottom of the staircase should have been.

Jack gestured to Owen to help with the injured firefighters. Jack himself ran up to the third

and tried to get him to turn off the hose. The firefighter looked at him in astonishment and carried on. Jack tried to take the hose from him, the firefighter pushed him away. The hose writhed like a python back and forth. Owen had to come over and hold the man whilst Jack wrestled the hose away from him and turned off the valve. Immediately the flames lessened, diminishing away to a small fierce fire at the base of the stairs.

Owen carefully climbed into the wrecked staircase. He checked the air on the firefighter's tank then swapped the regenerator for the apparatus. He put the regenerator mask on the downed firefighter. The sensors in the mask would detect the damage in the lungs and provide the correct mix of gases at the right pressure to avoid further damage and hopefully start the healing process. Immediately his breathing became easier. Owen put on the fireman's apparatus, he wondered how they ever carried the heavy breathing apparatus and still manage to fight fires.

He crawled over to the pinned firefighter, but although he was breathing, Owen knew that shifting the weight off him might cause more damage and it shouldn't be attempted without paramedic back up.

The third firefighter had sunk down to the ground with his back to the wall, head drooping between his knees. Owen signalled to Jack that it was time to be heading back. Jack walked forward to the Elemental. This one was larger and hotter than the others. Jack had to find a way to get it from the burning building and into containment. He looked around and spotted a flat piece of staircase. He pushed it underneath the Elemental and then lifted it, as though it were a tea tray. Owen heaved the firefighter to his feet and they made their way out.

As Jack exited holding the tray of flame in front of him, a firefighter reacted as though he was on fire and turned a hose on him. The Elemental fought back, engulfing Jack in a ball of flame that threw him backwards through the door, pushing the regenerating mask from his face. He felt his lungs burning as he involuntarily sucked in the flames. He gasped, reeling from the internal agony, trying to force air into non existent bronchioles. He felt his mind begin to slip away as it became starved of oxygen, and he descended into the black emptiness of death.

Owen went ballistic. He ran over to the firefighter and took a swipe at him, knocking him off his feet then he turned on the leading fireman, and gave him a gobful for not obeying their orders about turning off the water. Then he turned calmly, picked up the now quiescent Elemental and walked over to the SUV where Gwen waited with a containment box.


	4. Clean Up Act

Clean Up Act

Gwen organised Jack's body to be evacuated into the SUV, and Owen sat with him, whilst Gwen gave orders about the remaining firefighter's inside the building. She updated Ianto and Tosh about the incident. Ianto wanted to drive over to meet them directly. Although he was seemingly maintaining his stoical manner, there was a quiver in his voice as he asked if he could do this.

"I need an update first on the remaining fires first. Do you still have work to do?" Asked Gwen

Tosh reported that they had attended four of the fires and captured three more elementals.

Two fires had been false positives, or the elemental had gone by the time they arrived. Ianto also mentioned the man in the hoody, he had seen a similar person at another fire, not far from the pie factory, although this had been one of the false positives.

"We'll meet you back at the Hub after you've been to the last fire." said Gwen.

Gwen and Owen arrived first. Jack started to breath again, but was barely conscious and was gasping air like a drowning goldfish. Owen sat with him in the back of the SUV until Ianto and Tosh arrived. Jack was too big for him to carry and he didn't want to risk hurting him more. Ianto leapt into the SUV, pelting Owen with questions. He turned white when he looked at Jack, his pallor contrasting with the soot and dirt smeared across his face.

Owen calmed him down, resisting the impulse to retch at the smell Ianto bought with him. Between them they managed to get Jack to one of the medical bays and onto the bed. He was now conscious, and he grabbed Ianto's hand and smiled at him. Ianto attempted to smile back, but it wouldn't come. Jack coughed, and gasped, Owen gave him some water. "Thanks Owen, Ianto you smell like a bad Hawaiian pig roast, and look worse. Go and get cleaned up. I'll be fine in a minute." he said hoarsely.

Reluctantly, Ianto left for the shower. He still had on the firefighters uniform , he removed it in two pieces, and then peeled off his suit underneath. No amount of dry cleaning was going to get rid of that smell! He threw himself under the shower, steaming and hot, he washed quickly, anxious to get back to Jack. He realised he had no spare clothes at the hub. He would have to get some from the wardrobe archive. There was a suit he had had his eye on for some time.

He stepped out of the shower and was grateful that he had persuaded Jack to order some spa type dressing gowns.

Ten minutes later Ianto returned from the archives to find the team in the conference room.

As he walked in Jack looked up from where he was leaning on the table opposite the door.

"Wow, cute suit" he grinned.

The others turned to look. The suit was a gorgeously cut Christian Dior, from the time of the New Look, just post war. It was wool with silk lining and might have been fitted to Ianto's measurements. He wore it with a white shirt, no tie. The effect was only slightly marred by the bullet hole just below the breast pocket, and the flip flops.

"OK back to work. Lets have your reports."

The team reported back on what had happened, including Ianto's mystery man.

Jack gave his orders.

"Gwen go over the CCTV footage from the sites of the fires, go back to last night see if we can locate Ianto's mystery man. Tosh start work on the cover stories. Owen work out how and who we need to retcon. Ianto coffee, pizza and get the Elementals into storage. I do not want a repeat of last time."

"Last time? why what happened?" asked Owen, this was the first time they had dealt with fire Elementals as far as he knew.

"Oh, you so do not want to know about the trouble with Elementals. To work people!"

"Could we actually shower and change as well Jack?" asked Tosh, "I can still smell the roast pork and my skin is greasy."

"OK, 15 minutes then everyone back to work, we need to stop this from happening again, people are getting hurt."

Midnight came and went as they worked through the CCTV footage, and set up the cover story. Owen had been out to retcon the necessary people. How he actually achieved this was a source of great discussion between Tosh and Gwen. Owen refused to divulge his methods and speculation ranged from the use of darting to the use of dating.

Jack sent Gwen home at one, she had the inquest tomorrow. Tosh and Owen left soon after and Ianto and Jack trolled through the last of the CCTV footage, sitting companionably side by side at Gwen's desk. Finally Ianto spotted the man he had seen, near the warehouse Jack and Owen had been at.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, definitely the same man."

"OK, lets see if we can get a better look at him. Then we can run an identification programme. Your man is going to get a little visit tomorrow."

"Jack, I really need some sleep. I have got as far as I can on coffee."

"That's fine, I'll carry on. You can take my bed."

"I need to go home Jack, I have no clothes."

"Those look great on you, I especially love the flip flops"

"Underwear Jack, I need underwear."

Jack looked at him speculatively "You mean under there you're naked?"

"Jack!"

"Look you give me your keys, you're too tired to drive safely. Go to bed here and I'll fetch you some clothes."

Ianto gave in.


	5. Mortal

Mortal

Gwen arrived half an hour early to the inquest. She had attended several when she was a copper but the court still had the power to cause butterflies in her stomach, and she headed straight for the loo after the coroner's officer had kindly told her what to expect.

On her way to the toilet she passed two Goth's. At first she had done a double take wondering if a couple of Victorians had slipped through time into the hundred and fifty year old courthouse. Their outfits were splendid. The woman wore a floor length red velvet dress buttoned high to the throat with a mutton sleeved velvet jacket. Small buttoned boots peeked out from under the full skirt. The man had on tight black trousers, a white satin shirt with cravat and a fitted black frock coat. He held a top hat in his moved politely aside to let Gwen pass, and she watched them go and talk to the coroner's officer.

In the court room Gwen sat behind the relatives of the deceased teacher Erica two Goths were also waiting on her row. The woman had a typed statement in front of her. Gwen had a typed report.

The woman gave her evidence first describing how she had been on her way to work. The coroner had done a double take when he saw how she was dressed, and told her it was inappropriate. The woman, Jessie had apologised, but explained that these where her smart clothes, otherwise she would have been wearing jeans. Gwen realised she had helped her out at the scene. The coroner huffed a bit and shuffled her papers.

"Very well you may carry on. I would like you to read out your statement from the point you describe seeing a flash....."

Jessie carried on to say she had been walking behind Erica Purbright when there was a very bright yellow flash of light and a bang. When she could see, Erica was lying in front of her with blood pouring from her thigh. Jessie had applied pressure to her femoral pulse to stop the blood and had waited for the ambulance to arrive. Erica had been alive but unconscious when she was placed in the ambulance. She described how Gwen had helped comfort Erica whilst calling 999 on her mobile phone.

The coroner clarified a couple of points and asked the family if they wanted to ask any questions. They shook their heads, and the Coroner called Gwen to the stand.

Gwen was standing to take the affirmation when all the lights went out and there was an explosion from the foyer. Gwen automatically reached for her gun but remembered she had had to leave it behind along with her comms unit. She could see flames erupting beyond the glass doors leading to the foyer. Someone was screaming in the room, Gwen went into automatic mode,

"RIGHT" she shouted, "EVERYBODY CALM DOWN! THE FIRE EXIT IS TOWARDS THE BACK OF THE COURT. WE WILL ALL GET OUT SAFELY IF WE REMAIN CALM."

The sprinkler system came on soaking them all, and with it the flames in the foyer grew larger. Gwen could feel the heat. She herded the witnesses and family towards the fire exit at the back of the court. The Coroner was just a few steps from the door when an explosion of flames blew through it, knocking her over and setting her clothes on fire. The male Goth ran forward and rolled her over and away from the fire, beating the flames out with his hands.

Jack had woken Ianto at nine with a kiss, coffee and danish. The drink and food were fresh from café Celli, the only place Ianto really approved of for coffee. Jack sat across the bed with his back to the wall and his knees bent so that Ianto could lean up against him. As Ianto ate Jack stroked the back of his head gently.

"I bought you over some fresh clothes, also packed you some toiletries and razor."

"Thanks Jack." He tried to marshal his thoughts, Jack was being very distracting, pulling gently on his hair now and running a finger down his ear.

Ianto cleared his throat. "Did you get anywhere with the recognition programme?"

"Mmmm? Yeah, he matches the description of five local villains. I passed the information on to the police, along with warrants for their arrest on suspicion of arson. I thought we might as well get them to do the foot work for us. When they're in custody we can go and interview them at our leisure. How's the coffee?"

Jack spoke as he ran his finger down Ianto's neck and along his shoulder.

Ianto put his empty cup down, and turned to face Jack,"delicious" and leaned into receive Jack's kiss.

Owen and Tosh arrived together. Owen was in an unusually benign mood and had bought Tosh coffee, had let her ride down into the hub holding his arm. Tosh felt amazing, Owen was noticing her, being friendly. Her day could not get any better.

There was no sign of Jack and Ianto, no smell of fresh coffee. Tosh and Owen grinned at each other. Last night was the night Tosh had bet Ianto would stay over in Jacks room.

Owen put his finger to his lips."Shh" The pavement lift had been silent and they crept over to their desks, eyes on the door to Jacks office. Ianto walked out of the door with Jack close behind. Jack caught Ianto's hand and pulled him around to kiss him. As they parted Owen and Tosh heard Ianto say "That was wonderful Jack" and kiss him on the forehead before walking down the stairs to get the coffee on. Owen high-fived Tosh and at the noise Ianto noticed them, groaned, shook his head and carried on to the coffee area. He couldn't help smiling though.

They were effectively trapped in the courtroom. The foyer was ablaze and a threatened Elemental blocked the only escape route. The courtroom windows were small and high up

Gwen was trying to bring some order to the chaos. She needed to contact Jack,get them down to sort out the Elementals, calm down the people in the room and protect them from being hurt. The Elemental was reacting to the sprinklers by increasing the ferocity of its flames about every ten seconds. This had now ignited some of the soft furnishings and flames were licking along the bench where the Coroner normally sat.

OK, First things first. She ran back to where she had been sitting and took out her ordinary mobile. Damn, it wasn't charged. She was such an idiot. Gwen slapped her forehead in frustration. "Has anyone got a mobile phone?"

Faces turned to her blankly. "I need to get in touch with my team. We specialise in fire and rescue."

Jessie nodded, and pulled a phone out from a pocket in her soaking skirt. She had difficulty walking because of the heavy wet fabric.

"I'd better take this off"

Gwen dialled quickly, then again more slowly. Usually the Hub's number was on speed dial, and she had a problem remembering it in the stress of the moment.

Tosh was monitoring the Rift as the alarm went off. She typed rapidly, then covered her mouth in horror. "everybody" she squeaked, then cleared her throat "EVERYONE! There's a fire at the courthouse."

"Yeah? so why are you so worked up about it? we'll just go down and pick up the Elemental, Job sorted." said Owen laconically.

Tosh looked at him pityingly. "Gwen is at the courthouse. I have located two Elementals. One in the foyer and one in the Coroners courtroom."

Owen bought his feet down off his desk with a bang. Jack was already flying down the steps from his office, Ianto threw him the keys to the SUV. Tosh took a moment to download the plan of the courthouse, grab her PDA , and catch them up just as they were about to pull away. Jack drove fast, Tosh just having enough time to turn the traffic lights in their favour.

Jack's mobile rang, he fumbled it from his pocket and chucked it across to Owen.

"Its Gwen" Said Owen, listening

"OK Gwen, calm down we are on our way already. ETA five minutes, if Jack doesn't bloody kill us first." Owen grabbed the door handle as Jack swerved out into the path of an oncoming Harwoods van.

"OK, is she conscious? No, then just cover her up. The worst risk is loss of body fluids and heat loss. That's what might kill her first."

"OK darlin'. Don't worry, the cavalry's on its way."

Jessie was taking her dress off with the help of the coroners officer. She was still decent underneath in leggings and a bodice. Gwen considered her full skirt. She picked it up and laid it over the unconscious coroner.

The family of Erica Purbright were huddled together against the wall as far from both fires as they could get. Shivering but otherwise unhurt, Gwen left them alone. The male Goth was holding his hands to his chest in pain, but was still standing. There was not a lot Gwen could do for him, so she spoke to him, asking his name.

"Jim"

"Jim that was an amazing thing you did. My team are on their way, it won't be long before we are rescued."

As she said this there was a blast from the foyer, the doors blew in and the shock of air pushed Gwen and Jim off their feet. Jim landed on top of Gwen, and yelped as his burnt hands ripped down the front of her leather jacket. Gwen hit the back of her head on the floor and had all the breath knocked out of her. Her vision went woozy, and bright lights flickered at the back of her retinas.

The SUV skidded up to the rear of the courthouse. Tosh was reading off her PDA.

"OK through the back entrance we can access the courtroom via the coroners restroom. That's the fire exit from the court. There is a large heat source, probably an Elemental just inside the door to the court, but the fire is smaller than that in the foyer."

"OK, Owen you go to the front and advise the leading firefighter."  
"kay Jack, hope its not that pillock from yesterday."

"No, I managed to get him suspended" said Tosh. "part of the cover story"

"Good work Tosh!" said Jack. "Tosh you're on comms. Ianto and I will go in the rear. Do we need to suit up Tosh?"

"Probably a good idea."

Ianto and Jack put on matt blue and gold firesuits and took several air regenerators with them in case they were needed. Also a large sheet of the same material as the fireproof suits.

They entered the building through an open fire exit. Tosh guided them along the corridor to the coroner's rest room. There was a fair amount of smoke and noise, plus water from the sprinkler system. "Tell Owen to get them to turn off the sprinklers Tosh" said Jack

"Will do"

After a few moments the water diminished, and they began to feel the warmth of the fire.

In the coroners rest room was a man in a hoody and jeans, holding a baseball bat. He took a swipe at Jack who breathed in as he stepped smartly back against the wall, so the bat just missed his stomach. Ianto leapt on the man from behind, one hand on his forehead, the other chopped into his filcrum, then forcing his nose up excruciatingly. The man attempted to run round in a circle in an attempt to get Ianto off his back, and Jack neatly tripped him up.

He fell heavily, Ianto still on top. Jack picked up the baseball bat and hit him hard on the head. Ianto looked up at Jack, panting. "You've probably fractured his skull"

"Well, there's no room to pack a gun and handcuffs in this suit. Not without spoiling the line of it."

Ianto shook his head. They both looked like blue and gold tellytubbies, no chance really of spoiling the line of the suit.

They looked through the blasted doors into the courtroom. In front of it was a large Elemental, around the room various items of furniture were on fire.

Gwen was lying unconscious, with someone dressed like an undertaker holding her hand and talking to her. A woman in a bodice and leggings stood by, whilst a chap in a suit was throwing up. Against the far wall a small group sat huddled together for warmth, and in the background flames could be seen through the open doors.

Jack and Ianto unfolded the sheet of fireproof material and between them carefully walked past the Elemental, passing the material over it and then bringing the edges to the ground. Effectively containing the Elemental being under it.

Jack ran over to Gwen, calling to Tosh over the comms to "Send in Owen! Soon as Tosh!"

Jim gabbled at them about what had happened, apologising over and over again. Gwen looked pale as death but was still breathing.

The flames at the front of the courthouse were now diminishing, and the heat and noise with them. Owen came in the back entrance, quickly followed by teams of paramedics. He checked out Gwen. He decided she needed to go to hospital for a scan. She hadn't been unconscious long, but he needed to check she had no bleeds into the brain.

The Coroner was being placed onto a stretcher, she had a drip now to keep her fluids going. Owen looked at Jim's hands and sent him over to the paramedics.

He and Jack spoke for a while and then he followed Gwen to the hospital. Jack called Rhys to meet them there.


	6. Undertaker

Undertaker

"Right, come with me we need to get those hands looked at" said the paramedic to Jim.

"'Fraid not. He's coming with me – we have a few questions for Mr Undertaker here" said Jack.

"He needs attention to those hands"

"We have a medic. We'll make sure he gets just the attention he needs." The paramedic shrugged his shoulders. He had dealt with Torchwood before.

Jim looked at Jack

"How did you guess?"

"Actually I wasn't sure until you said that"

Jim was gradually changing shape, he grew about six inches, his torso remained the same length but his arms and legs elongated, his fingers lengthened and one disappeared. The middle one much longer than the others. His cheeks became hollow and his pallor cadaverous, eyes sunken and black.

"What happens now?"

Jack was pointing the webley at him.

"Well you appear to have injured one of my officers, so I guess you're a threat and we need to neutralise that threat." Jack said this calmly, he felt this caricature of an undertaker was actually quite gentle. He tried to place his species.

"It was an explosion from the fire blew me on top of her. My species only help people. I am truly sorry and hope she will be well soon. However if she does not recover my people are experts at managing the dead"

Jack winced at the thought. Then he placed the species. He lowered the gun. This guy was no threat.

"You are from Necros – the planet of the dead"

Jim bowed. "Indeed, but I am not typical of my species, and my family forced me to leave. I craved light, colour and laughter. So I came to earth. So much sadness and yet so much joy."

"With you on that one" said Jack.

He noticed that Jessie was stood beside them, mouth open listening to everything. Jack mentally added her to the list of retcon – ees..

"Wow" she said

"Jessie" Jim looked apprehensive " I never wanted you to see me like this"

"Wow" she said again and took his hand. "You are so weird – I really like weird"

"Really? But I am so different to all the other males of your species. I – I even am ugly on my world."

"I like different. I am not considered exactly beautiful on this world. I'm too fat and too short with too small boobs"

"I do not know what they are, but I think you are beautiful."

Ianto walked up at the point where Jessie mentioned her boobs. He glanced at Jack questioningly. Jack grinned and looked thoughtful.

"How long can you maintain the human shape before you have to revert?" he said

"About five hours at a time."

Jack asked Jessie "Will you ensure he doesn't go out in public like that?"

"Yes, although I don't see what's wrong with it."

"Not everyone is as into - weird as you. He'll frighten the natives. OK you can stay. Give all your details to Ianto, and Ianto make sure he is fitted with a tracking device. You can be on probation for six months. No trouble in that time and I'll consider extending your stay, but you have to live with Jessie. Break up and you come see me or Ianto"

Jim nodded enthusiastically. Jessie flung her arms round Jack, "Thank you!"

He hugged her back. "By the way those boobs – absolutely gorgeous!"

Jessie blushed. Jim looked confused. Jack caught the look and grinned mischievously "Ianto will fill you in on those – and other important male/female practices."

Ianto gave Jack a look "Thanks for that Jack" He started to plan revenge. "Oh by the way, Owen called – Gwen has woken up."

"Is she OK?"

Ianto shook his head. "Too early to say, baseball bat guy is also at the hospital, but is still unconscious. We have an address, so me and Tosh can go over there see if we can find out what this is all about."

"OK, drop me at the hospital, then get those Elementals into the hub before you get off."

Ianto nodded.

Gwen became aware of pain. Excruciating pain. White cold pain in her head. She tried turning her head, but nothing mitigated it. She groaned. The noise hurt. She whimpered. OK she could manage whimpering.

"Gwen, Gwen, can you hear me sweetheart, its me Rhys. Oh God Gwen please be all right. I love you so much"

Gwen's eyes flickered and opened. Suddenly the pain was worse, so she closed them again. But she squeezed the hand Rhys was holding."Love you too," she muttered.

Rhys sighed. He kissed her hand and held it as if she were going to disappear.

Gwen had woken in the ambulance, but then drifted off again. Now she was conscious but the pain made her want to keep still, eyes closed.

The next time she opened them she was on a trolley, she closed her eyes against the trail of lights on the ceiling as she moved. They took her for a scan. Being moved on and off the trolley was agony. She thought she screamed a couple of times. They gave her an injection and the pain subsided. She dreamed. Of blue flamed creatures that frolicked around a red sun. Jack ran towards her arms outstretched, skipping over the little blue creatures, calling her name.

"Gwen, wake up Gwen, they need to ask you some questions, run a few more tests."

She opened her eyes. Her headache had subsided to the size of a normal hangover.

There was Rhys, Owen and Jack.

"Good" said Owen and explained what had happened, she had a bad concussion, but so far nothing worse. She would be OK in a few days. Just a few tests to make sure.

Rhys was hanging on to her hand for dear life. Jack looked anxious but managed a grin for her. Then he kissed her, "Good to have you back" When she looked again he had gone.


	7. 2 Go on an Adventure

2 Go On an Adventure

Tosh and Ianto drove up to the bungalow. Surprisingly Baseball Guy lived on the outskirts of Cardiff on a large estate of 1930's bungalows. Tosh usually associated them with old people. Here were still lots of hedges, large front and back gardens, and everything neat, tidy and very very quiet. No children or pets playing, no cars parked on the street. No aliens threatening the end of the world. Tosh and Ianto stared out through the windscreen.

"I bet everyone here puts their car in the garage, instead of using it for storage" said Ianto approvingly.

"It's so peaceful" Said Tosh

"I bet it's a really boring place to live" Ianto sighed

"How quickly do you think we could move in?" giggled Tosh.

"Bet you have to wait till someone dies before a place comes up"

"We could arrange that......." Said Tosh

Ianto glanced at her, she had sounded wistful and serious. Yes this might be the perfect place for Tosh to live. He could see her here, although different to her modern apartment he could see her gardening, saying hello to the neighbours. Hell if it came to that he could see himself washing the car every Sunday then sitting down to a lovely roast meal just like his parents. Then he thought about Jack. He wasn't sure this kind of neighbourhood would approve of Jack. Or of them coming and going at all hours of the day and night, sometimes bloody and a bit broken. He shook his head. Somehow normality wasn't for them.

"We'd better get on" he said. Tosh nodded her head slowly. They sat for a minute in companionable silence. Then Tosh sighed and opened the car door.

They approached the house openly. Lucas Brown, the Baseball Guy lived by himself so they weren't expecting trouble. Ianto rang the doorbell. As expected no reply. Tosh had her PDA out, scanning for the Elemental's signal. She followed it down the drive to the garage set at the back of the house, to one side of the back garden. Like many older garages this one was made of asbestos, but the original wooden doors had been replaced by metal ones. Ianto had the ordinary garage lock open in a trice. He had some peculiar skills for someone contemplating living in the suburbs.

Inside glowed with a blue light and it was warm. Asbestos compartments had been set up around the walls. Some were in the process of being made, and there was dust on the floor. Tosh waved Ianto back, holding her hand over her nose and mouth. "What?" he went to say, but she dragged him out of the garage.

"Asbestos dust" she said, Ianto nodded, comprehending. Asbestos, although a versatile and fireproof material was incredibly carcinogenic. He wondered if Baseball Guy knew that, if he had taken precautions. Ianto fetched air regenerators from the car. He hoped no one would walk by. Bound to be curious in this neighbourhood.

Back in the garage they found three Elementals. Two in a compartment together. Ianto wondered if Lucas had been trying to breed them. After they contained them and put them in the SUV, they tackled the house. There was a basic alarm system, Tosh dealt with it easily and they were inside the side door in a few minutes.

The bungalow was being renovated. Each room was a little vignette of welsh decorating history. The kitchen was still in the 1970's. The units were cream but the tiles had bright orange stylised poppies. They searched in there, but only found old bills. The living room had elements of the fifties (tiled fireplace, electric fire, swirly carpet) and the 1980's,(large overblown dacron sofas). There was a seventies wooden sideboard, Ianto searched there whilst Tosh went into the bedrooms.

Ianto came up blank and went to join Tosh. The main bedroom had been stripped back to the walls, all furniture removed. There was a mattress made up on the floor, and in the corner a modern computer desk, set up with a laptop. Tosh went to work.

Ianto searched the second bedroom. It was small and dark. He didn't want to open the curtains, as it faced the street. He switched on the light and jumped. There was a figure asleep in the bed. At least he hoped it was asleep. He sniffed carefully. No smell of decay, so if they were dead, it was recent. No smell of blood or faeces, (so probably not dead then. God the things he knew.) He stepped cautiously closer. The figure turned over onto its back and began to snore. She had long blond hair and was wearing a sleep mask. Ianto noticed the glass by the bed and the packet of Kalms. With luck she wouldn't wake any time soon. He backed out of the room, switching off the light. He gently closed the door and turned the key in the lock. Thank goodness the original doors had been left.

Tosh was telling him about the interesting files she had found on the computer (password lucasbrown) when all hell broke loose next door. The woman was shaking the door back and forth shouting " Lucas, you bastard! let me out! I've got to get ready for work! LUCAS!!!"

Ianto took out his Taser, went out into the hall and cautiously unlocked the door. It was yanked open. The woman screamed in surprise. Ianto nearly did too. Stood in front of him, blond hair cascading down her bare shoulders was Janice Long, the cooperative firefighter. She ran for the front door. Ianto lunged after her and the taser connected with her backside, and she fell to the ground.

Getting Janice into the back of the SUV wasn't too hard, once Tosh had managed to get some clothes onto her. Removing a naked woman in this neighbourhood was going to cause questions. As it was they had to contend with a gaggle of elderly women,their wheeled shopping bags and an upright military gentleman. The way he was eyeing Ianto made him think Jack might not be as out of place here as he had thought.

"Vice squad" said Tosh as she helped manhandle the groaning woman into the back of the SUV.

There was a chorus of "well I never" and "That'll bring the house prices down" and one lone voice saying. "oops, better lie low for a while."

Back at the hub Jack interviewed Janice Long. He had evidence from the computer about a protection racket run by Lucas Brown. He was curious about why and how Janice Long had joined him.

Janice sat back on the hard wooden chair. She had gorgeously disarrayed bed hair, and she tossed it back in what she hoped was a seductive manner. Jack was distracted momentarily, then he remembered Gwen and the other firefighters who had nearly lost there lives to this bitch. He let the anger grow. Controlling it, but letting it drive the interview forward. He decided that if she could try the seductive technique that made her fair game for the Jack Harkness charm offensive. He sat on the corner of the table nearest to her and smiled sweetly, letting a little lust into his eyes, he let them drift down from her hair to her breasts and then back up to make eye contact. He reached out and twirled a stand of hair around his finger.

He heard her breathe in. He lent forward and gently brushed his lips across hers. "You smell so sweet," he said. "You can control fires, that is so sexy."

Her breathing became shallow and fast. Her pupils contracted and she licked her lips. Jack smiled. "Tell me how you did it" he said admiringly, stroking her hair.

She slapped him hard across the face. Ah well that didn't work so well then. He heard laughter from behind the two way mirror. They really must get that sound proofed.

Jack caught her wrist before she could slap him again. Then he put her face down on the floor arm twisted her arm hard behind her back. She screamed in pain and let loose a stream of invective. Jack twisted harder, with his other hand he pushed her head hard to the ground.

"You're responsible for the near death of my friend and several of your colleagues. Now I would like to know why and how, but I'm not so interested that I wouldn't just kill you. Right here. Right now. Wanna take a chance on that?"

She attempted to shake her head.

"Gonna tell me what I want to know?" he felt her try to nod. He pulled her to her feet, sat her back down in the chair, handcuffing her to the legs.

"Talk"


	8. The Trouble with

The Trouble With....

Several hours later Owen, Tosh, Ianto and Jack were sat drinking fragrant coffee fresh from Ianto's magic machine. Owen had his feet up on the boardroom table, Jack lounged gracefully. Ianto sat upright, mug neatly in front of him. Tosh sat demurely, elbows on the table holding her mug to her nose enjoying the smell.

"Gwen is recovering. Still has a headache, but all her neurological tests are OK and she should be allowed home tomorrow. No work for a week though. Even if it is the End of the World" said Owen.

"Thank goodness, poor Rhys must have been worried." said Tosh, she turned her attention to Jack. "I know that Lucas was running a protection racket, but how and why did Janice get involved?"

"Seems that she had always been fascinated by fire. Up until she met Lucas she had been a perfectly good firefighter. She fell for him and they bought that bungalow together to do up. She didn't know about his more shady activities, or so she said. They needed more capital to do the renovations, but with the credit crunch they were unable to raise any, and that was when he let her in on his little racket."

"But how did they find the Elementals?" said Owen

"Just chance. Janice was called out to a small shed fire. She noticed that it got worse when they used water and worked it out from there. She discovered another one on a walk, and low and behold they bred a few more. They started to use them as payback to 'customers' who refused to pay for protection."

"Very civic minded. Perhaps the council could use that idea for people who won't pay their council tax." Ianto said. "What has happened to Lucas by the way?" Ianto turned to Owen.

"Still unconscious and in intensive care. Had a massive bleed into the brain from Jacks whack with the baseball bat. They operated to relieve the pressure but if he regains consciousness he'll be in rehab for many months to come."

Jack grunted. "Always was handy with a bat., how about the coroner?"

"Also in intensive care at a specialist burns unit. She is expected to recover, but is going to need skin grafts." replied Owen

"Why did they target the court?" asked Tosh, "That doesn't fit in with the protection racket."

"Actually it did on two counts. Firstly Jessie runs a Goth shop selling clothes and accessories. She was refusing to pay the protection price. Secondly we know Lucas was at the warehouse fire. We think he saw Gwen at the scene and may have followed her, found out where she lived and what she was doing today. The opportunity was too good to miss. It was a bit of a last minute thing I think, that's why he was still there when we arrived." said Ianto.

Tosh shivered. She found it hard to comprehend such callousness. Killing when you had no choice she could just about get her head around. Had to working for Torchwood, but this deliberate and cruel disregard for other people was beyond her.


End file.
